TOWN CLERK TOOK MINUTES OF OWN SACKING

A town clerk discovered he was about to lose his own job while taking minutes at a council committee meeting, the D...

A town clerk discovered he was about to lose his own job while taking minutes at a council committee meeting, the Daily Telegraph reports (p3).

Howard Crowe said he could not believe what he was hearing when a motion to advertise his job was put forward during a meeting at Birtley Town Council in Gateshead.

'I still kept on writing as the motion was seconded and approved, and I was then asked to arrange for the advertisement to be placed for my successor,' said Mr Crowe, who had been Birtley's town clerk for 10 years.

An industrial tribunal in Newcastle upon Tyne yesterday awarded Mr Crowe £13,000 for unfair dismissal after turning down an appeal by the council against its ruling.

A review by the joint chief executives of Cambridge & Peterborough CA has identified savings which will result in annual staff costs being cut by more than a quarter, following previous concerns about the size of the wage bill.

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